Bioreactors are commonly used to provide an environment for developing tissue constructs from samples including cells that grow to form tissue engineering constructs. Conventionally, to monitor the growth of cells in bioreactors, the cells or tissues are removed from the bioreactor and destructive assays performed.
Some bioreactors are designed to accommodate individual sample sizes of less than 1 μL, and are known as microfluidic systems. One example of a microfluidic system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,653,124 to Freeman. In the Freeman patent, a plurality of microchambers are provided for cell culture, and each microchamber is in contact with one or more fluidic lines for supplying nutrients to the growing cells. The arrangement disclosed in Freeman is typical of microfluidic systems used to grow cells, but the microchambers are too small and cannot be used for growing natural or engineered tissues.
It would be desirable to provide a bioreactor device for accommodating larger sample sizes to facilitate growth of tissues in a bioreactor chamber while still maintaining a small volume of medium commonly used in microfluidic systems. It would also be desirable to provide a bioreactor system that can flexibly accommodate different types of mechanical loading, deliver biofactors, and monitor tissue growth in a non-invasive manner.